The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

DESPITE having lost everything to Hurricane Dorian in early September, Abaco resident Melinda Pinder has never backed down when it comes to helping those in need within her community.

The mother-of-two, who is no stranger to charity work, had been assisting residents in Abaco long before the monster storm hit the island nearly six months ago.

She is founder of the Pink Rose Ball, a non-profit event created to raise funds for the Abaco Cancer Society.

With the annual event now cancelled as a result of Dorian, Ms Pinder says she spends her time volunteering with the local council by distributing food and other essential items to the most vulnerable in the community.

“We try to distribute at least once a week or twice a week depending on what we have to give,” she told The Tribune yesterday.

“… (But) it’s very difficult because people are actually portraying that ‘oh the persons in Abaco don’t need’ but there are so many that are in need and that’s why I personally like to go around and deliver stuff because you get to see the condition of how persons are living and what they’re actually going through.

“Just (Tuesday), I was able to deliver 48 senior citizens grocery bags with a number of items in it, through funds that were donated by a local Abaconian and, I actually have 48 bags now for single mothers with kids and persons with disabled kids… but I want to go personally and go and see if there’s other things I can assist them with.”

With basic necessities like electricity and running water still absent on some parts of the island, Ms Pinder said day to day living for many on the island is still a struggle.

Also compounding the issue, she said, is the COVID-19 pandemic, which has also slowed down the pace of rebuilding on the storm impacted island.

She said: “It slowed the process down of everything like rebuilding and of course, the jobs and stuff.

“And you know a lot of people are like ‘oh, well you need to help yourself or whatever,’ but if you haven’t worked for eight months and don’t know when you’re going to work, I mean you’re trying to hold on to whatever you have to make sure that you actually have food to eat.”

She added: “For the most part, I would say 80, maybe even 90 percent of persons don’t have electricity so therefore a lot of them do not have refrigerators. . . (so) they can’t keep anything cold and if they do have the funds, I guess they will go and buy something every day to cook or they just use canned items.

“So, we’re trying to make sure that they at least have canned items.”

The powerful Category Five storm flattened a number of homes and businesses on Abaco, displacing thousands.

Asked about the level of preparedness on the island given that hurricane season is less than two months away, Ms Pinder doesn’t feel the island is ready.

“All the debris has not been cleaned up. They’ve done a lot of it, the local council and some of the NGOs but that’s basically it,” she told this newspaper.

“There’s still lots of buildings that need to be torn down that would really be a problem if we did have high winds. Even when it rains, a lot of persons have tents inside their homes because the roofs are still leaking, or they don’t have a roof or you know it’s so many persons still living in tents.”

However, despite the many challenges the island faces, Ms Pinder said she tries to keep a positive attitude throughout it all.

“I lost my business. I lost everything that I had,” she said. “But (volunteering) has actually helped me a lot. It has kept me going and this is something that’s dear to my heart as well, especially for single mothers. I can’t imagine kids being out there and going hungry.”